Clostridium perfringens is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped, anaerobic, spore-forming bacterium of the genus Clostridium. C. perfringens is ubiquitous in nature and is typically found as a component of decaying vegetation, marine sediment, the intestinal tract of humans and other vertebrates, insects, and soil. Although ubiquitous, and often benign, C. perfringens is also the cause of many severe infections of animals and humans. Indeed, C. perfringens is known to be the cause of food poisoning, gas gangrene (clostridial myonecrosis), necrotic enteritis, and non-foodborne gastrointestinal infections. Thus, C. perfringens is a pathogen in both humans and animals (Songer, 1997). Although all domestic animals, can be infected, C. perfringens is a particular concern for the poultry industry. Indeed, it is in poultry species that C. perfringens causes the most devastating losses.
In chickens, C. perfringens causes necrotic enteritis, the most common and financially devastating bacterial disease in modern broiler flocks. Although the clinical illness is usually very short, mortality in an unprotected poultry flock can be devastating. Indeed, often the only sign of necrotic enteritis in a flock is a sudden increase in mortality. In addition to increased mortality, necrotic enteritis may present as birds with depression, ruffled feathers, and dark diarrhea. Typically the disease persists in a flock for between about 5-10 days, with mortality between about 2-50%.
Typically necrotic enteritis is controlled by antimicrobial drugs administered at prophylactic doses either in water or in feed. However, there is increasing public opposition to the use of antibiotics in animal feeds. For example, in Europe, antibiotics are already banned from animal feeds (see e.g., van Immerseel et al., 2004, 2008). The same could be soon be true for the United States. Without traditional antibiotics for the prevention of necrotic enteritis and other diseases caused by C. perfringens, such diseases could potentially become a far greater problem for the poultry industry.
Therefore, what is needed in the art are alternatives to traditional antibiotics which are effective in preventing and treating disease caused by C. perfringens, especially C. perfringens that affect poultry.
Fortunately, as will be clear from the following disclosure, the present invention provides for these and other needs.